CompTIA Blog

Dominic Keogh, marketing director of managed document services (MDS) at Ricoh Company, Ltd., and an executive member of CompTIA’s UK Channel Committee, has been a member of the CompTIA Trustmark community since June 2013. After working closely with CompTIA for a number of years, Ricoh decided to undertake the Managed Print Services Trustmark process in order to assess its profitability and development standards in relation to industry best standards.

After years of utilizing CompTIA’s educational services and participating in its conferences, OKI Data Americans, a company specializing managed print services, decided to look deeper into what other services CompTIA offered. Toward that end, in January of this year, OKI officially received its Managed Print Trustmark, denoting the successful completion of the managed print services certification process, as well as its first step towards solidifying the strong connections it was looking for.

Collaboration shouldn’t be just another buzzword in the channel vernacular. When providers actively engage with other value-added resellers, managed service providers, vendors, distribution partners or other industry professionals, their efforts can result in far more sustainable outcomes than if they were to operate on their own. From extending creativity and working capacity to providing a more comprehensive system of checks and balances, cooperative efforts can clearly produce meaningful results.

As we have entered the workforce, millennials have a gained a bad reputation – often described by employers as selfish, lazy or privileged. This perception has developed over time and few members of my generation have disputed it yet. As a millennial, I’d like to debunk some of these perceptions and offer an insight into how they gained a foothold in the professional world.

ChannelCon 2014 started with more than 1,000 leading solution providers, analysts, media and other channel organizations — including more than 145 vendor and distributor companies taking part in the Technology Vendor Fair — and concluded with three companies coming out on top as the Best of ChannelCon award winners.

Managed print services provider Supplies Network earned its CompTIA Managed Print Trustmark, a vendor-neutral credential that validates the company’s ability to deliver MPS in an efficient, effective manner; according to Barney Kister the company’s senior vice president of strategic relationships.

Trust issues and reluctance to change are just two reasons managed IT and managed print services have so far stayed in separate worlds, but during CompTIA’s Managed Print Services Community meeting at ChannelCon, West McDonald of Focus MPS and Rob Rae of Datto squared off on what the future of these two areas, and the big question of the day: Will managed IT services and managed print services converge?

An academic partnership with CompTIA is helping UTech Jamaica get certified and become part of the skills gap solution.

Any IT solution provider knows they need to do at least some social media to build brand awareness, but do you know if you’re getting any business from it? Jeff Mesnik of ContentMX told attendees at ChannelCon that to get real results from your social media efforts, you must target, engage and deliver.

In a presentation about the science of learning — and how it’s possible to trick the brain into learning and retaining information for longer than ever before — attendees of CompTIA’s Academy Educator Conference got an inside look at CertMaster, a new training tool that uses priming, spacing, analytics and engagement tools to help students learn.

After a whirlwind three days of CompTIA ChannelCon, I am on my way home. The captain just informed us that we are the “first revenue flight” for this brand new airplane. This seems oddly appropriate as I reflect on my takeaways from the event. So much ground was covered in the many community and council meetings, training and education sessions, keynotes and networking opportunities at ChannelCon, but everything seemed to revolve around the concept of new models.

The opportunity and change about to hit the IT channel far surpasses what’s happened in the last 20, according to AT&T’s Brooks L. McCorcle, a panelist at ChannelCon’s Channel Chiefs Power Panel. “We need to challenge ourselves to create new and different ways to go to market,” she said.

Patterned like Pardon the Interruption, Tuesday’s ChannelCon conference lunch was spiced up when two of the industry’s most respected — and opinionated — analysts took on some of the hottest topics impacting today’s IT channel.

IT channel firms looking for new sources of revenue should look first to current customers, a panel of channel executives said Tuesday at ChannelCon. “Present your customers with a complete picture of what you can do for them,” advised, Amy Hodge, director with ConnectWise.

Anyone can be innovative, according to futurethink’s Lisa Bodell, but real change requires a change in approach. During her keynote speech Tuesday at ChannelCon, Bodell told the audience, “Thinking has to become a daring act.”